Arc of triumph

Green fields in Jamshedpur, colorful bows, a nascent archery association and a coach on the lookout for promising youngsters in 1995 — these were the beginnings of 18-year-old Yazneen Rana’s assignation with archery. "I was 10 at that time. I happened to be passing by and, being inquisitive, went in just for a look. I was persuaded to try and pull the bow. Observing my hand structure, Sanjeeva Singh (Arjuna awardee and secretary of the Jharkhand Archery Association who coaches Rana) saw promise in me and so I joined,” Rana relates.

Shooting straight from the shoulder, Rana picked up a gold medal in the team event as part of the junior Jharkhand archers at the 25th Junior National Archery Championship held at Jamshed­pur from January 2-5, 2003. Selected to participate in the Indian team in the 1st Junior Asian Archery Championship from January 9-12, Rana struck bull’s-eye with a silver in the team event at the archery range of the J. R. D. Tata Sports Complex in the steel city.

"Archery is a very relaxing sport,” opines the Loyola School student who has just completed her standard 12 board exams. "You have this beautiful field, you have your equipment and your thoughts. You don’t have to depend on others. You meditate and cool down before starting. If the heartbeat quickens, the hand shakes so you have to subdue the excitement.” Using a 36-poundage Hoyt fiberglass bow manufactured in the US, Rana elucidates that the heavier the bow the better the accuracy for a distance of 70-90 m. "The equipment costs around Rs 70,000 as everything is imported. The carbon arrows are around Rs 700 each, so if the arrow is lost or damaged you lose a lot!” she explains. The stabilizer reduces vibration and hand shake. The bow jumps when the arrow is released so the heavier the long bar at the front the quicker the bow drops after release. The height of the bow from top to bottom is around 5.8-6 ft, more than her own height! Temperature, wind direction and speed are relevant factors in a successful shoot.

Yazneen Rana: lone Parsi archer

"It was rather unfortunate that more teams could not partic­ipate as this was the first time a junior Asian archery champion­ship took place. Some were held up due to fog at Delhi airport while others like Japan and Korea were participating at a meet elsewhere. Still it was an experience,” she narrates. Shooting at junior archery state and national level competitions at Pushkar (Rajasthan), Delhi, Jamshedpur, Chandigarh and Meerut over the years, her tally of medals currently stands at eight gold, five silver and nine bronze, as per her bio data. An international experience slipped by last June when she was selected to repre­sent India in the Junior World Archery Championship in the Czech Republic, but the team did not depart "due to technical reasons.”

"I have yet to meet a single Parsi who is into archery. The only other Parsi around at competitions is my dad Sarosh who takes great interest in archery and is the official team manager who accompanies the Jharkhand team,” states Yazneen. A Jamshedpur resident, Sarosh works as manager, operations and contract, in the information technology services division of Tata Steel. Yazneen’s mother Pervin is a teacher at Sacred Heart Convent where the teenager did her schooling, securing 87 percent in the ICSE exam two years ago.

With para sailing, river rafting, swimming and basketball among her interests, Yazneen was awarded a gold medal for adven­ture, sports and social service conferred by the Duke of Edinburgh (the International Award for Young People). Her 10-minute video film on the markets of Jamshedpur won her a third prize in a video competition organized by the SAARC Youth Festival in Delhi in December 2001. Among the host of awards she has received are the Khel Samman Patra from the chief minister of Bihar five years ago, the sportsperson of the year trophy from the Jamshedpur Parsee Association for seven consecu­tive years, the late Pesi Tarapore Memorial trophy for academic and all-round excellence, etc.

Archery should be given more felicitation by the central ministry as archery is a difficult and expensive sport, Yazneen believes. "It’s always cricket, hockey, tennis, etc which are in the limelight,” she rues. Archery receives no boost at all, says the teenager who intends to continue making her arcs of triumph.